Shadow Skill TV Anime Series Episode 4 – Synopsis Cast of Characters: Elle Ragu - 59th sevalle of Kuruda Gau Ban – her adoptive brother Folli Brazmetizer – Sui Reme Kyo Ruu – Septia Feorina – owner of the Green Octopus Inn Teaser: It is morning at the Green Octopus Inn, located on a island in Kuruda lake. Faury, Elle, Kyo and Gau are working in the inn’s orchard. Or rather, Faury, Kyo and Gau are working, while Elle is sitting under a tree singing a little song – and she’s out of tune. Kyo and Gau are moving sacks of sand and distributing them around the trees of the orchard. After the ditty, Faury comments that it’s better to have a job than not to have one; Elle talks about how she’s been kicked out of her apartment for not being able to pay the rent. Faury remembers that Elle did manage to get her own place, and wonders if they would be able to take in four people all at the same time. Elle comments she’s not sure what to do – that Faury acts friendly, but Elle isn’t sure if this is true friendship or a waiting time before Faury takes revenge. Faury’s face clouds and she says that she has not forgotten, but that the fighting can wait for now. Elle then says, “You know, you didn’t have to take responsibility for the debts.” Not far away, Gau is dumping a sack of sand at the roots of a tree. Kyo calls to him and asks if he knows that the sand becomes the fertilizer; when Gau says he hadn’t known about that, she goes on to say that it is a sand that burns. Gau wonders aloud if it really will burn, and Elle jumps up from where she has been lounging, wanting to try and see if it will. (NOTE: baaaad move! ) Faury cries out: “Elle, you idiot!” But Elle is already striking flint against rock, as Gau and Kyo look on in horror. The expected results occur – the sand explodes in a huge cloud of smoke. From outside the inn, Feorina, the owner, looks up in shock as a column of smoke rises up into the sky. (Opening Credits) Act 1 Feorina stands at the orchard gate surveying the damage, and says, “I told you before it is very dangerous to do this unless you do it like you’re supposed to!” She is looking at a blasted Elle, who is standing in a huge crater together with Kyo and Gau. Elle is, as usual, very apologetic and promises to work off all the damage she caused – which causes her two young companions to faint dead away. We are next treated to the sight of a marvelously gorgeous Elle dressed up in the inn’s waitress uniform preening – no other word will do, she likes the way she looks as a girl! – in front of the mirror. Then she pouts and declares, “I don’t use the fact that I’m a beautiful woman to get what I want, so how come I have to dress like this anyway!!!” Flashback to the four playing paper-rock-scissors, and Elle lost (she was the rock and the other three were paper). With a little cry Elle slumps down on the floor and moans, “I’d rather be out buying all the groceries than doing this!” and starts to bawl like a little girl. At the pier, Gau is bidding Feorina goodbye, promising to be back the next morning. Faury and Kyo are in the little boat with him. “Just remember to bring the bill back with you, all right?” calls Feorina, and we get a look at a disgruntled Elle listening to the laughter of Faury and Kyo as the boat pulls away towards Kuruda proper. Elle begins her work as a waitress right away, using her considerable charm to serve the house specialty, rushing back and forth between the tables -–altogether being unusually polite and skillful in managing the dishes. There is a wonderful sequence where Elle’s coordination is tested when her foot catches on a knot in the floor and she starts to lose all the contents of a tray. As she tries to recover the tray, she upsets a table, and this is where you get to see how well sevalle training works in a very unusual application. Elle’s mind hardly needs to process her moves as she tosses the a tray of beer, and a tray of octupus in the air, swings out her leg to catch the falling beer mugs from the table, catches the octopus in one hand, the beer tray in another hand, grapes in the crook of her arm, and one octopus lands on her head. Laughter and applause greet this particular feat, covering the shifty-eyed observations of a suspicious looking character who is having a meal at the inn. Night comes, and we hear Feorina angrily demanding what a stranger is doing at her door, since she has nothing further to discuss with him. Elle, coming from the front room with another order, hears Feorina’s angry discussion as the stranger declares that there may not be anything to discuss on Feorina’s end, but he’s not done talking. He walks into the kitchen, looming over the little girl, claiming that operating the inn is too much for the latter to handle. He’s a man with a monocle and a sort of trenchcoat – he rather reminds one of those B-movie spies. The man offers to buy both the inn and the island, saying that Feorina probably needs more money since her father died. This threat makes Elle bristle in the background, as the stranger badgers Feorina about how much longer she’s going to cling on to her father’s memory; that he’s saying these things because he’s worried about her, and urges her to “get rid of this old inn”. Feorina, who has been holding her emotions back through all of this, bursts out that she will never allow anyone to talk badly about the inn her father left her, and orders the stranger to go away. He sighs that she is an awfully stubborn kid, and as he leaves, he promises to come back. Feorina’s defiance crumbles as the man leaves, and she almost, but not quite breaks into tears. Elle, sober at what she has just seen, retreats into the shadows. Act 2 The inn has closed for the night, and Feorina is out on the railing overlooking the lake. She is lost in thought when Elle comes out of the inn and feels sympathy for the little girl’s troubles. Her face mirrors her thoughts on whether she should approach Feorina or not, but then she makes up her mind to at least try and be of help. So she calls out in a cheerful voice and draws Feorina’s attention, asking what is the matter. Feorina turns to Elle with an attempt to smile, and Elle declares that if that stranger comes back, she personally will beat him up and throw him off the property. Which makes Feorina realize that Elle had been listening to them, and Elle’s face falls as she apologizes. Feorina says it’s all right, and encouraged, Elle says that the stranger was rather odd, for why else would he want “such an old inn – err – valuable property with a classical look”. Feorina brightens up as she explains that everything is very important because her wonderful father left it all to her. Elle scratches her head, still not quite getting the picture. Feorina continues that she can hardly believe that her father is gone – then the moment is interrupted as Mr. Ohiba, an old and venerable looking chap, enters the scene. He claims to have grown up with Feorina’s dad and known him for a long time. Feorina introduces Mr. Ohiba as a regular customer of the inn, having stayed there since her father passed away. Ohiba describes Feorina’s father as a great toolsman for weapons in Kuruda, the best he had ever seen; but for some strange reason he closed the shop and came to the island. Feorina adds that her dad had thought about a lot of things when her mother passed away; Feorina herself was a little more than a baby at the time so she doesn’t really understand what happened. Ohiba goes on to say that Feorina’s dad had been a very tough and strong man, and that has been passed on to Feorina. The scene then shifts to the stone circle at the hill overlooking the inn (the future training ground for Gau and Elle). A thunderstorm is brewing, and two figures emerge from the shadows. We hear Ohiba’s voice addressing someone “It looks as though you failed me once again.” “I don’t think she’s going to say ‘yes’ to me,” replies the other, who turns out to be Mr. Trenchcoat-Monocle from the kitchen door encounter earlier. Ohida says something about Master Viper being in a hurry, and he guesses it won’t be possible to solve the situation peacefully. Trenchcoat-Monocle says there is no choice but to send a message to the mainland that they are going to steal all the literature on how to use the exploding sand as a weapon. And that he’ll get it that very night. It starts to rain. In the inn, Elle is briskly wielding a mop to clean up the inn while Feorina wipes up the dishes in the kitchen. As the rain starts, Elle points this out to Feorina and points out that they could be in for a rough night. To herself, Elle wonders if Gau will be able to come home safely. Suddenly Feorina observes that Elle has an awful lot of muscles, making the other girl come to a dead halt. “Do you really think so?” she asks, taking a look at herself in the mirror (and Elle is *really* a dish in that outfit!), and agreeing that she does have muscles, at that. Feorina says that Elle is really big and strong, but the other girl says everyone is like that in Kuruda. With her back turned to Elle, Feorina simply comments “That’s nice.” This draws Elle’s curiousity, and Feorina opens up some more by saying her father was a valle from Kuruda. “But just look at me. His daughter is so skinny. I wish I was born bigger and stronger so I become one of the valles too, like he was.” “You want to become a valle, too?” “I really dream of being a sevalle,” says Feorina, and Elle cannot resist asking who Feorina likes best out of the 59 sevalles. “Well, of course, Shadow Skill is the best. She’s really cool,” comes the unwitting reply, and Elle is all startled embarrassment, murmuring her thanks. This startles Feorina, and Elle hastily says, “No reason! But I would really like to know why you like Shadow Skill the best. There are a lot more people, for example, Scarface…” “You want to know why I like her? This person is a woman,” replies Feorina, turning to face Elle, whose back is now towards her. “I’ve never seen a woman that tough, so when I think of her, I get lots of courage! Whenever I’m feeling sad or down, I just think about Shadow Skill!” We see the image of Elle going into fighting stance (when she pivots and is surrounded by sparkles). When Elle – by now hugely abashed and touched -- asks if Feorina as actually seen Shadow Skill, Feorina admits that she hasn’t, because when she went to the fighting festival, it was busy – but she assures Elle that she was always cheering for Shadow Skill in her heart. Elle murmurs, “If Shadow Skill was here to listen to what you just said, she’d be happy. I’m sure she feels honored to know that someone is cheering for her in her heart, and is thinking about her to get courage whenever she’s down. I’m sure that would make her happy than achieving victory.” Feorina looks strangely at Elle’s back, puzzled at the feeling in the other girl’s voice. That night while everyone is asleep – even Elle – we are taken down one of the dark hallways of the inn. A scream suddenly splits the night as a lightning bolt illuminates the sign of the inn, and then the camera pulls back to show the rain and crashing waves… Act 3 Elle runs down from her attic room in bare feet, down several flights of steps. This brings her to the huge crowd assembled in the main room, where Feorina is profusely apologizing for the disturbance. She assures everyone that nothing is wrong and urges them to return to their rooms. Elle is pretty much eye-candy in a hanging shirt and shorts and practically nothing else . She follows Feorina to the doorway of a ransacked room, window open, contents topsy-turvy. Feorina tells Elle she realized the laundry had been left outside, and while she was out…Elle notes that nothing was stolen, and all the money has been left untouched, so what could be the purpose of it? Elle asks Feorina if she is positive she doesn’t know what the object of the search was, and Feorina makes a small sound, looking at a picture of her late father. An “x” has been slashed on it by a knife. Elle muses that only thing on the island is the inn, and no one else has arrived on the island after the storm. So that means the suspect must be…as Elle tries to puzzle things out, she moans in frustration. Just then, the wind blows open the shutters, and a lightning flash shows a shadow fleeing across the inn’s grounds. It’s enough for Elle to go jumping out of the window, as Feorina calls out in surprise. Elle loses track of her quarry in the storm, but keeps up the pursuit. Alone in the room, Feorina is startled by a knock on the door as she is putting her father’s picture back on the night stand. As she calls out, the door opens to reveal Mr. Ohiba, who had heard that a thief might have been to the inn, and he asks if Feorina is all right. The old man looks such a comfort that Feorina’s self-control deserts her completely and she runs crying into his arms. That snake in venerable clothing cuddles her and comforts her. Out in the rain, Elle is still tracking down the owner of the shadow. Looking down at the ground, she sees a set of human footprints and notices that the trail leads back to the inn. Realizing that no one else has come to the island after the storm, it means the suspect is one of the customers who is staying at the inn…”Why didn’t I realize it! My brain must be all muscle!!” Ohiba tells Feorina that he has heard that the room they are sitting in used to belong to Feorina’s father. Feorina confirms this, and also that she keeps all her father’s mementos and things in the room. Ohiba says that it is possible the suspect was probably after something belonging to Feorina’s father. Elle is following the trail of muddy footprints across the floorboards of the inn, up stairs, and into a lighted room. Feorina is wonderingly listening to Ohiba state that the suspect must surely have been after something that her father must have kept very precious. Feorina wonders what it could be, and Ohiba asks if she has any ideas. The camera begins to tighten its focus on the mole in Ohiba’s neck…as he encourages Feorina to think aloud about what the suspect might be after. Feorina says the house means a lot, and the farm with the olive trees, the flowers in the garden…and also the mirror! Three things happen at the same time: Ohiba exclaims about the mirror, a clap of thunder sounds, and Elle barges in through the door accusing Ohiba of tricking them the whole time. Elle throws down a pile of muddy clothing on the floor, saying that she found it all in Ohiba’s room. Ohiba puts up a convincing defence: he was out to see his boat, afraid that it might get washed away – when he returned, he heard about the thief, so he rushed to his room and changed quickly, and then proceeded to Feorina. Elle’s expression changes and she is almost ready to go into major embarrassment as Feorina scolds her for being rude. Then Ohida says it is strange that the thief didn’t even touch the money in the room. This brings up Feorina short, and she turns surprised eyes on Ohida, backing away from him. She wonders how Ohida would know about the intact money, since she didn’t tell anyone about it. Ohida tries to cover up by saying that he heard it from the people – and Feorina cries out that she didn’t tell anyone! Elle, vindicated, comes forward to place her hands on Feorina’s shoulder and with a smile says, “I think we’ve found somebody suspicious!” Caught out, Ohida reveals his true colors. “I was so close to it, too,” he growls, reaching for his cane, which he pulls apart to reveal a wicked sword. As Ohida swings the blade, Elle pushes Feorina towards the door, telling her to run, while she jumps onto the bed to confront Ohida. Feorina hesistates at the door, fearful for Elle’s safety, and Ohida takes his chance to hold his knife at the little girl’s throat. “Don’t move!” he threatens. “If you move, I’m going to kill this girl!” Elle grinds her teeth in frustration, as Ohida demands to know from his captive what else Feorina’s father kept in the room. Feorina bravely tells Ohida she will reveal nothing of what her father left for her, and the old man choke-holds the girl and tells her it would be a simple matter to just have her killed and then search the whole inn themselves. Ohida then proceeds to tell Feorina that her father has lied to her all those years. That he was never from Kuruda nor a sevalle. That he was a worthless trader who deceived the people of Surofan country and ruined all their lives. Feorina denies every word of Ohida’s refusing to believe them, and the old man goes on to say that Feorina’s father was doing some research in Suluothan/Surofan palace, trying to invent a weapon that would surprise the world. If he had completed it, it wouldn’t matter how many times Kuruda’s armies went to the aid of Ashlianna – they would be destroyed in a second! (image of exploding cannons and a defeated battlefield is shown) Elle grows more tense, trying to absorb this information. Ohida goes on to say that Feorina’s father disappeared without a trace with the results of the research. Suluothan was afraid the research would be delivered to Ashlianna, so a search was launched for Feorina’s father. They discovered he had retreated to the island, but by then he was already dead, and no trace of the research in sight, or any proof that Ashlianna has completed the weapon. Elle furiously states that there is no need for such a weapon in Kuruda. That it is just a tool for many more massacres. Ohida cries out that it is their only hope for peace; Elle demands to know how he can talk of peace when they are making a huge weapon. Ohida’s response is that as long as Ashlianna has the power of the sevalles, Suluothan needs a greater weapon to stop it. Elle’s eyes widen and she says it is just an excuse. Ohida says they are not making the weapon just for fun – they need because they are threatened by the power of the sevalle. Elle cries out that the person who does not fight with his own strength and relies on a doomsday weapon is a fool who will only end up destroying himself instead. Ohida, enraged, calls Elle a fool and decides to kill her first instead, throwing Feorina out of the way, he charges Elle, who leaps from her position on the bed. She manages to evade the blade and takes up a table to defend herself, but Ohida’s sword manages to slice the table into neat little pieces. Ohida looks at Elle clutching little more than a table leg in her defence, and then comments that she is indeed from Kuruda – though he little expected a waitress to know about fighting. He charges again, and this time, his blade slices into the bandages covering Elle’s sevalle badge. A little smile of triumph appears on Elle’s face as the bandages fall apart to reveal the Kuruda brand on her arm, even as Feorina gasps in shocked recognition. Ohida exclaims as Elle proudly announces, “That’s right. I am a warrior…I am the 59th sevalle, Shadow Skill, also known as Elle Ragu!” Ohida growls, as Elle chuckles, “What’s the matter? Aren’t you surprised that the great weapon you’re so afraid of is a cute girl like me?” “Sevalles are going down, I see!” cries Ohida, as he turns and makes a run for it. Elle goes off in pursuit of him, as a stunned Feorina and two onlookers watch, frozen in place at this turn of events. Feorina comes to the full realization that Elle is Shadow Skill, whom she admires so much… Ohida tries to make good his escape through the hallway of the inn, but despite launching a couple of firebombs at Elle, she gets in close enough with something to shatter his sword and blast him out into the rain. The shards of sword and Elle’s improvised weapon fall all around the place, and then Ohida turns and tries to make his getaway. Act 4 As Feorina tries to follow after Elle, her attention is caught by letters shining on the ceiling. It would seem that Elle used the mirror to shatter Ohida’s sword, and the fragment that fell on the ground now reflects the light in such a way as to form a letter written by Feorina’s father. In it, he explains that he is leaving her with the mirror that will tell her the truths she must know. (sequence of Ohida running through grass, with Elle in hot pursuit accompanies a voice-over of Feorina’s father) Feorina’s father has taken the research report about the new and devastating weapon and burnt everything that he could. He says he has made a mistake in his life. No one knows how to use the exploding sand now, except for him. (close shot of Feorina’s face) He has been able to run away from the investigation of Suluothan and reached Kuruda to become a tool man. (cut to scene of Ohida still throwing firebombs at Elle, who runs through the explosions – they have entered the orchard) Feorina’s father explains that he was living in daily fear of the shadow of Suluothan until he met his saving grace in Feorina’s mother. (close up on Elle’s determined face) The voice-over continues that Feorina’s parents fell in love, married, and Feorina was born. Feorina’s mother was very weak, physically (close up on Ohida’s sweating, cornered expression), and soon after the birth, died. The narration goes on, underneath the images of the fighting sequence: for the first time, Feorina’s father encountered birth and death at the same time. He began to think about his life as a weapons creator; and could not shake the feeling that being a maker of weapons was almost like being an accomplice to murder. After thinking things over, he decided to take Feorina and live on the island, making a fresh start (skies are clearing after the storm, and Ohida’s mouth is bleeding). Ohida starts as the moonlight shines on Elle, who has cornered him in a grove of trees. She is standing next to a wheelbarrow of exploding sand. In exasperation, Elle tells Ohida that they can stop chasing each other around the grove, and Ohida cries out that sevalles will never exist again, and throws a fire bomb at Elle. It bursts open against a tree, and as Elle jumps out of range, the sparks ignite the sands all around Ohida, the resulting explosion finishing him off. The voice-over continues with an apology from Feorina’s father about having kept everything a secret from her, but that he did not want her to worry about things that were beyond her control. The light from the fire can be seen across the lake, where Gau, Kyo and Faury are in their boat, returning from the grocery expedition. Elle is now standing by Feorina as the voice-over continues with Feorina’s father hoping to see her grow up to be a wonderful lady, to a lovely daughter. The voice-over ends, and Elle points out that Feorina was the most important thing in her father’s life: it is the most precious inheritance of all. Feorina’s face is glowing as Elle continues that Feorina’s father was a great man, and the girl should live her life to the fullest to make his wish come true. Feorina nods. The tender moment is broken by Gau’s rapid footsteps calling out for his sister in concern, demanding to know if she’s broken something more again. Framed in the door as Kyo enters we see the suspicious character lurking around from the first act of the episode. He thinks, “It seems that Suluofan is not as reliable as we thought,” and turns away as Faury explains that they rushed back because they were so worried about her. Feorina breaks in saying that it was the most amazing thing, that Elle saved her life! Gau expresses disbelief, and Elle starts to assume her usual self-confident role as she declares that indeed is what happened. Feorina invites the foursome to stay at the inn and use it like their own house from now on…she wants them to live there. The concluding conversation is a bright end to the episode as the camera zooms out from the Green Octopus Inn sign: Elle: I don’t mind staying here…I don’t want to wear that uniform any more! Kyo: You look so good in it, though! Elle: Don’t say that again! General laughter ensues as the sun breaks over a new day for our merry little band. (Closing Credits)